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The Great Sasuke
|birth_place = Morioka, Iwate Prefecture |death_date = |death_place = |resides = |billed = |trainer = Kotetsu Yamamoto Gran Hamada |debut = March 1, 1990 |retired = }} Masanori Murakawa (July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler who is best known by his stage name The Great Sasuke. As well as a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator. He has wrestled in Japan and in the United States in various wrestling promotions. He is said to have an incredible tolerance for pain, mainly in reference to the injuries he has had including a cracked skull on two occasions. Professional wrestling career In his early career, Murakawa wrestled under the name Masa Michinoku. Masa, from his given name Masanori, and Michinoku, after the alternate name for his Japanese home region, Tōhoku. Taka Michinoku adopted a similar gimmick to parody him. Later, on a tour of Mexico, Murakawa adopted the mask, uniform, and name Ninja Sasuke. This was the predecessor to the Great Sasuke gimmick he would adopt upon returning to Japan. Murakawa is also the owner, and founder, of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, the first Japanese independent promotion not to be based around the Tokyo area. As part of an agreement between Michinoku Pro Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, the Great Sasuke was part of the tournament to crown the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion in 1997. Although Sasuke was heavily pushed to be the winner of the tournament, he would later brag to the Japanese media how he would only defend the title in Japan had he won the title and would refuse to drop the title on WWF television. When the WWF heard of Sasuke's comments, he was fired as well as his working agreement with them terminated, although a former member of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Taka Michinoku, would end up winning the title. In 1998 he and Tiger Mask IV began feuding with the heel (villainous) clones of their respective gimmicks: Masked Tiger (Takeshi Ono) and Sasuke the Great (Masao Orihara). In 2002, Sasuke briefly turned into a heel and started using the name SASUKE, using blue stripes on his mask instead of the red stripes. However, he later turned into a face (fan favorite) when Jinsei Shinzaki "brought him back from the dark side" by "exorcising the evil out of him". Sasuke still currently wrestles in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, although he left the running of the promotion to Shinzaki in 2003 to focus on his political career. In wrestling Championships and accomplishments External links * Profile * Profile * Profile Category:Japanese wrestlers Category:Male wrestlers Category:Masked Wrestlers Category:1969 births Category:1990 debuts Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:All Star Wrestling alumni Category:Big Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Chikara Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre alumni Category:Diamond Ring alumni Category:Dragon Gate alumni Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts alumni Category:FREEDOMS alumni Category:Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling alumni Category:Fukumen MANIA alumni Category:Fu-Ten Promotion alumni Category:HUSTLE alumni Category:International Wrestling Revolution Group alumni Category:Kaientai Dojo alumni Category:Michinoku Pro Wrestling current roster Category:Osaka Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Pro Wrestling El Dorado ~ The Next DOOR Project alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi alumni Category:Pro Wrestling NOAH alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Superstars alumni Category:Pro Wrestling ZERO1 alumni Category:Stampede Wrestling alumni Category:Tenryu Project alumni Category:Toryumon Mexico alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni Category:W*ING alumni Category:World Entertainment Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Association alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Wrestle Association-R alumni Category:Wrestling Marvelous Future alumni Category:Politicians Category:Living people Category:Mobius alumni Category:Okinawa Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Onita Pro alumni Category:Tokyo Gurentai alumni Category:WRESTLE-1 alumni Category:WrestleReunion alumni Category:Wrestling New Classic alumni Category:IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions Category:IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Dramatic Dream Team alumni Category:Inoki Genome Federation alumni Category:Real Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:World Wonder Ring Stardom alumni